Last year, we all said that the Hawks need to improve our defensive line's pressure against the passing game... and Pete and John knew it as well making it a priority with the 1st round selection of Bruce Irvin and the addition of Jason Jones in FA.

Well, it's working. The Hawks are currently tied for 5th in the league with a total of 16 sacks (18 leads the league), and are on a pace to rack up 51 for the year, which is greater than the total team sacks for top honors in the league for the last 3 years (50 in 2011, 48 in 2010 and 48 again in 2009).

Last year, the Hawks totaled only 33 sacks... and we currently have almost half that amount through only the first 5 games. That is pretty friggin' amazing. Kudos to Pete, John and Gus Bradley.

A most pleasant additional surprise is Bobby Wagner's recent ability to get to the QB. He currently has 1.5 sacks. And Brandon Mebane is playing at an All Pro level. He currently has 2 sacks.

Interestingly, Arizona and St Louis are up there this year as well with 17 and 15 sacks, respectively.

Strangely, San Francisco is currently tied for 19th with only 9 thus far... and are on a pace for only 29 sacks this year. Last year they had 42, same as Arizona.

All indications are the Hawks have caught up rest of the NFCW in sacks and defensive pressure against the pass.